French edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from Italian calzone, with an excrescent schwa[1] (cf. the form calçon, attested in the sixteenth century).[2] Doublet of chausson, an inherited form.

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /kal.sɔ̃/
  • (file)

Noun edit

caleçon m (plural caleçons)

  1. boxer shorts, boxer briefs
    • 1903, Jules Garçon, editor, Encyclopédie Universelle Des Industries Tinctoriales, page 199:
      Ce qui me le fit mettre dans les poches de mon caleçon de bain...
      Which made me put it in the pockets of my swimming trunks...
    • 1965, François Mauriac, Nouveaux Mémoires, Flammarion, page 905:
      Un caleçon minuscule.
      A tiny pair of boxers.

Usage notes edit

  • Caleçons sold in Quebec tend to be more conservatively cut than their equivalent in France or Haiti.

Derived terms edit

Descendants edit

  • Greek: καλσόν (kalsón)
  • Louisiana Creole: caneçon
  • Swedish: kalsonger
  • Japanese: カルソン

References edit

  • Müller, Daniela. 2011. Developments of the lateral in Occitan dialects and their Romance and cross-linguistic context. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Toulouse.
  1. ^ Müller 2011: 46
  2. ^ * caleçon”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.